FINAL FANTASY XIV Online News

FFXIV 6.1 gets revealed in one day - here's what we know

March 4, 2022 Here's the FFXIV Live Letter 69 summary.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker has come and gone, wrapping up a decade's worth of story threads that have been weaving their way through the MMORPG. We've already got some new content patches introducing the Pandaemonium raid, but the big next step is 6.1. The devs already revealed a few details on 6.1 in the last big Live Letter, but a fresh broadcast breaking down much more information is set to air this Friday.

Letter from the Producer Live Part LXIX is set to air on Friday, March 4 at 3am PST / 6am EST / 11am GMT via YouTube and Twitch. Unlike recent major Live Letters, there will be no live interpretation into English this time. However, bullet-point slides breaking down the features of the new 6.1 patch will be shown in English, and members of the FFXIV Discord will likely provide their usual fan translations of the developer commentary.

FFXIV patch is currently targeted for release in April, as the devs revealed in the last Live Letter. We will, of course, get a new set of main scenario quests - particularly notable this time around, as it'll be our first steps to the new story post-Endwalker - as well as the first Alliance Raid for this patch series, new tribe quests (the devs are ditching the 'beast' terminology going forward), and more.

Read the rest of the story...

GabeN delivers Steam Deck to an FFXIV fan, reveals his class

Valve boss Gabe Newell is now an FFXIV player, and as you might expect he's quite excited about the arrival of the Steam Deck release date. So excited that he went out and hand-delivered the first few Steam Decks to players who happen to live near Valve's office in Bellevue, Washington. Naturally, GabeN made time to talk about the critically-acclaimed MMORPG while he was out.

The full video below is an absolute delight. There are Valve fans who are over the moon to meet GabeN, folks who don't have a clue who he is, and a whole lot of awkward shuffling as people decide to react to a company president hand-delivering a hot new bit of gaming tech. He even appears to hand out a few free Steam Decks to curious onlookers.

At one point, GabeN asks someone "What do you play in Final Fantasy?" The Steam Deck recipient in question responds that he's a Dragoon main, with a backup in Paladin when queues get bad. (Smart plan.) Gaben responds that "I'm trying to level up my White Mage right now."

Read the rest of the story...

FFXIV devs suspend housing demolition again due to "the current world situation"

The FFXIV devs suspended automatic housing demolition in December due to ongoing congestion issues following the launch of Endwalker, and it was scheduled to resume next week - but now they've pushed back demolition again, due to the "current world situation".

"We had originally planned to recommence the currently suspended auto-demolition counter on Wednesday, March 9, 2022," the devs say in an update. "However, considering the current world situation, we have decided to keep the counter suspended. As for when auto-demolition will resume, we will monitor the situation in the coming days, and inform you all when we have come to a decision that auto-demolition can commence again."

There's no specifics here, but the 'situation' referred to here is almost certainly the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The devs have been quite sensitive when real-world issues are likely to make it difficult for players to login. Housing demolition was previously suspended in 2020 due to the "economical effects of various cities going into lockdown" after the initial COVID-19 outbreak.

Read the rest of the story...

FFXIV players gather to show solidarity with Ukraine

Over the past week, news of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine has dominated the global headlines. The situation is rapidly changing and details continue to be shaky, though plenty of people are fearful of the ramifications of the conflict. The war has also touched our industry, with various Ukrainian game developers taking to various social media platforms to ask fans for help. Now, though, players are taking to their favourite games to show solidarity with Ukraine, and Final Fantasy XIV is no exception.

Over the past couple of days, we've seen demonstrations on Lich, Shiva, Aether, and other servers. The gatherings all follow a similar theme, with people flocking to one of FFXIV's social hubs while wearing clothing that's dyed blue and yellow to match the Ukrainian flag.

The gatherings follow an online show of support for an FFXIV streamer called Jessica 'Zepla' St. John. The content creator caught the media's attention in January when she uploaded a video updating her audience about the situation in Ukraine and how she might have to move. Following the video, she initially moved to the west of Ukraine from Kyiv before updating everyone on Twitter that she managed to make it to Poland.

Read the rest of the story...

GabeN burned out on WoW, so he's playing FFXIV on Steam Deck

The Steam Deck is finally here, and we all want to know one thing: What's Gabe Newell playing on it? Valve's big boss has been giving out plenty of interviews ahead of the Deck's launch, and GabeN says he's been pouring the hours in on the critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.

"One of my sons got into Final Fantasy," Newell tells IGN. "I sorta got burned out on World of Warcraft. It got to the point where they'd introduce a new level cap, and I'd be like 'ah!' and I'd start playing for about ten minutes and my brain would melt down. So I haven't played an MMO for a while, but one of my sons was into Final Fantasy. And he was mad at the people he'd go raiding with, so he was like 'Okay, I need a minion. Dad, come be my minion. Be my healer who doesn't let me die when I'm tanking.' So I started playing with him, and then I've been playing a ton of it on the Deck."

FFXIV might just be the best choice for MMO gaming on the Steam Deck, given the game's robust controller support, and long history of playability on console platforms. Excellent choice, Gabe. (And Gabe's son.)

Read the rest of the story...